One of the runaway Lakeville girls discovered at a western Minnesota horse ranch last week told police that she hadn't seen her mother "in years'' and assumed she'd been incarcerated, according to a child protection petition filed by Dakota County.
The two girls have told investigators that they were home-schooled and assisted with chores around the ranch, where they'd lived since being dropped off there in April 2013, the petition revealed.
Their mother, Sandra Grazzini-Rucki, 50, faces six counts of felony deprivation of parental rights on allegations she took her daughters Gianna and Samantha to the Herman, Minn. ranch. The girls were dropped off four days after they ran away in the midst of a custody dispute, according to the criminal charges.
Yet as the girls lived and worked undetected at the ranch, Grazzini-Rucki attended a NASCAR race in November 2014 and the NHL Finals in June 2015. A Florida man on Sunday posted photos of Grazzini-Rucki at those events on Facebook. Jack Auld, is described in Lakeville police records as Grazzini-Rucki's boyfriend.
"I was tired of seeing all the mug shot photos of Sam and how the press and Dakota County has tried to make Sam out to be this horrible Mother and An Assaultive, Aggressive Felon!!" Auld wrote on his Facebook page. "So here's Sam at Amalie Stadium where we saw The Tampa Bay Lightning in The Stanley Cup against The Chicago Blackhawks! This is The Sam All My Friends know and Love!!"
Auld did not respond to a request for comment.
The Dakota County petition filed Monday asks the court to ensure that Samantha, 17, and Gianna, 16, have "a safe and stable living environment where their needs can be addressed and met."
The lack of any medical care over the last two years put the girls behind on routine immunizations, although they were "in overall good physical health," according to the petition.
